Painting with Greed
by Tro22
Summary: Naruto, now a Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, has gone on a five man squad mission to protect a small village to the side of Sunagakure, only to run into a figure who brings back memories. An OC fan fiction. No pairings.
1. Prelude to a Collapse

**Painting with Greed

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_The point of view to this story will be altering quite fast, shifting from each character, as it isn't really fair to pin it to one character's perspective during a story._

_As people are people._

_And those people, I do not own._

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_**Prelude to a Collapse**

Early morning was when I greeted the day with a slap of my alarm clock, silencing it until tomorrow. I clambered out of bed quietly and almost fell as a pin-prick like sensation raced up my leg, making me buckle and lean against the wall until I felt that I could walk it out. I shuffled my way into the kitchen with a lazy yawn splitting my lips.

The calendar said Sunday, October thirty-first, which happened to be the day of my mission to a country minor to Sunagakure. I smiled at the thought of seeing my friend again after the mission, and soon finished the cereal I had gotten during my thoughts.

I took a decent sized shower and dressed in a casual black and grey outfit, donning a quiet white jacket carefully and tied my hitae-ite into my golden hair, locking my home with a seal, and made my way to the gates as my first day of being…

**Naruto Uzumaki**

_Jounin of Konohagakure_

I was well on my way up in the ranks, but I had no idea how much impact this day of my life would affect my future as a shinobi.

Today was the day when I met her.


	2. Hey Baby, Do You See Me?

**Painting with Greed**

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**_Don't own it. Sorry folks. :]_

_No Pairings Yet. Other than KakaSaku. Remember. Suggestions._

_Yaoi is Allowed._

_Thoughts are not framed by '…' they are unnecessary. They are simply italicized._

_Time is also italicized for obvious reasons._

"Speech"

_**Bijuu Thoughts**_

_And remember Times New Roman kills your muse, always use a different font._

_:]_

**Muse:** Great. Hope it stays that way. Derp!

**Listening to: **Eva the Carrier by A Skylit Drive

* * *

**Hey Baby Do You See Me 'Cause I'm Staring At You?**

_Eight in the Morning, Sunday, October Thirty-First_

When Naruto had arrived, the morning air chilled his lungs, relaxing with the light mist that was evaporating from the dew laid across the grass from the frigid night. He had remembered the night well, due to pulling up his blankets from their normal position. He pondered a moment before taking off his shoes and began wriggling his toes into the cool dirt beneath his feet, it was a hearty brown, which made him think pleasant thoughts of how fertile the land was during the summer. But now, the trees were fading into gorgeous oranges and reds, fall came late in Konohagakure due to being kiddy-cornered with Sunagakure. And sometimes, the people of the village appreciated going on missions to places like Kusagakure, due to their various shades in the early autumnal season. He knew that he did.

He peered around quietly, noticing that he was indeed, the first one here out of his five man squad, the number had increased due to the ranking of the mission, and the knowledge that the enemy had explosives rigged here and there along the way to interfere. The blond ninja supposed that was why they had the Nara and the Hyuuga on their team. He suggested to the kage, Tsunade, who had woken from her coma after Danzo had died, that it would be safer; or in the least, they would be well protected by each of their squad.

The group was considered a vicious one in combination, the jinchuuriki, the strategist, the two with the Kekkei-Genkai, and the medic, but each had a passion, whether they had trouble expressing it, they all let it show in due time, especially during missions. He was drawn from his thoughts as soon as he heard the approaching padding of feet, smiling lightly in the direction of the people.

To his own happiness, it was Sakura and Kakashi, holding hands and talking to each other as they approached the bijuu container of eighteen years. The pink haired beauty gave a release to Kakashi's hand and moved over to Naruto, giving him a hug, "Hello, Naruto-kun." She greeted, holding the warm embrace for just a few seconds longer before releasing the young man.

"Hey there Mrs. Sakura Hatake," He grinned from ear to ear in a fox-like manner, making said girl blush and lower her head a bit in embarrassment.

"We're not married yet, Naruto, but there is a ring on her finger as a promise for that," Kakashi smiled from underneath his mask, only to get hit on the shoulder by his fiancée, who muttered that she actually liked the surname Naruto had bestowed upon her, making the older, silver-haired man grin happily.

The other two had broke the silence, Shikamaru greeting Naruto with a light clap to the back, and a nod towards the couple. Naruto returned the greeting with a bat of Shikamaru's ponytail, making him sputter and snort in surprise, resuming his lazing composition with a roll of his eyes.

"Let's go," Neji quipped gently, and they all escaped through the gates like they were bats from hell.

_Twelve in the Afternoon, Sunday, October Thirty-First_

Noon had settled and they were halfway to their destination, an unsettling presence around the group. They had already encountered a few of the enemies, but they had not come across any of the explosives, even with the aid of Neji's Byakugan, they had assumed that they were safe for now, and took a small break in the trees to consume a specially made sandwich for each of them, courtesy of Chouji, who had given them to Shikamaru with much hesitation as a good luck offering. Shikamaru had taken them and muttered a thanks, and as he was passing them out, they felt a chill race up their spines, not of fear, but of the cool wind whispering through the trees that tickled their ankles.

Shikamaru bit into his tuna sandwich quietly, keeping his ears open, and his eyes focused on the area around him as he consumed his meal. He had been quite used to Chouji stealing his food, but he had not realized that Chouji wasn't there until a decent minute into eating. The pineapple styled man did not relinquish his tight surveillance though, his keen, hazel eyes watching the forest for sudden movement, or burning fuses. Though he was quite sure Naruto would locate that. Shifting with a light grunt of discomfort, he deemed that this branch was far to think for him, and that it was digging into his legs, so he saw an open spot near Naruto, who was devouring his own sandwich, a chicken parmesan, quite slowly. He seemed just as focused as Shikamaru was.

With one last glance around, the darker boy moved over to the jinchuuriki, wandering horizontal with the ground from the tree over to the other, stretching to his side, which was facing the ground. He approached the tree and took a leap of faith, latching on with his one hand and the tip of his toes, making sure to enhance the bit of chakra within them, and stuck like glue. Naruto noticed and reached his hand up to his face, muttering a soft **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu **before a duplicate appeared and offered Shikamaru a hand, grabbing the wrist holding the sandwich, and helped hoist him up onto the branch in which Naruto sat.

Both got comfortable, deciding to lean against each other for warmth, which Sakura and Kakashi were doing, while Neji was wearing Kakashi's coat for warmth, they all had to help each other out, even if they had to swallow their pride.

Naruto perked as he heard a clang in the distance, but then relaxed as he noticed that there was an old shack not to far away that lost the small bit of piping that had not rusted off yet. He smiled at the others as a sign that he didn't recognize any dangerous sounds, and the rest lazed their muscles considerably. They ate their meal in silence, finishing and burning the wrappers of their sandwiches in a small fire from Kakashi's Jutsu.

_Three in the Afternoon, Sunday, October Thirty-First_

Time had passed quite fast after they took off again, clearing more ground than they would have with a few chuunin, halfway, something that Neji was used to, as his old Sensei seemed to push him to his limits with speed and endurance, giving him no rest to get as fast as his counterpart Rock Lee. He rolled his eyes and narrowed them slightly as he reactivated his Kekkei Genkai, the area around him becoming clearer than before. He saw a figure, as the trees thinned, and took note of the two people that were armed and after the strong chakra signature, perhaps…the Akatsuki and another Bijuu container?

"There is someone fighting off two figures ahead, slightly northeast of us, five degrees sharp," The brunette said quietly and the group nodded, fanning out a decent amount, Neji going into the direction of the figure, who's chakra and circulatory system he identified as a female, and Sakura accompanied him, while Kakashi and Naruto went over to the two to try and attack them from behind. Shikamaru was sent into the trees near the clearing to formulate a plan if these two men were indeed from the Akatsuki, it hadn't been the last of the Akatsuki all that time ago, when Pein died, it was only the beginning…

They had heard rumors that Konan had become a vigilant peacekeeper in Amegakure, ruling them gently, but made sure to punish those who didn't comply to the natural world of the peaceful shinobi that reigned today, in this instance, the two invaders would be executed, especially for assaulting a female kunoichi, but it wasn't on the top of their list to think about Konan now, there had been some 'group-in-training' that the Akatsuki had made, each pupil training under their 'sensei' unless they were sent on a mission to obtain the bijuu. The new Akatsuki was given a new chance at capturing the bijuu, as most of them were free and hiding within their respective container's town, disguised as unnatural ninja.

It was common now that the village had signed peace treaties and placed seals on them unless their limited chakra grew too low in a certain amount of time, which signaled that they were fighting and needed the boost, but sometimes, a case with the Sanbi, it had used up it's chakra too quickly, far before the seal could register it, and passed out, snatched up by a group that was now the 'immortal duo' of the Akatsuki. Shikamaru broke from his mind's monologue as he moved and situated on a tree, drawing a kunai for protection, and watched as a girl with peculiar purple hair blocked and barely dodged the ninja that were after her. Purple…what bijuu _was_ that? He pondered, biting his lip lightly before he began formulating a plan. He had no clue what bijuu's color was a dominating dark green, and he hadn't the foggiest what bijuu contained lavender eyes other than Nibi, and they had been given it's physical 'human' appearance in case if they found that the Nibi needed aid in escaping opponents.

Perhaps she wasn't a bijuu, he gave a few signs to Naruto and Kakashi, telling them that the fighting style of the two was rock and wind. A suitable match for Kakashi's water style, and Naruto's wind style. They both nodded and formulated their own plan, bickering back and forth before they sent a few signs to the other in the group. Sakura and Neji nodded and the rosette began gathering chakra into her fists and feet, ready to send a powerful kick to unearth, and then Neji would attack. Naruto would create a few Bunshin and send them out to become distractions while Kakashi slipped his way around and grabbed the girl…

"Hah!" Sakura shouted and launched forward, a feeling of pride swell in the copy-cat nin's chest at his fiancée, knowing she had become powerful since the return of Naruto, and the encounters with the Akatsuki. The ground split and rose, a few large chunks flying into the air. The girl with purple hair fell over with a loud squeak as Naruto's clones tried to tackle the attacking nin to the side, making them grunt and try to stab the solid clones. Kakashi darted out as Neji launched into action, attacking a few pressure points as the smoke from the bunshin disappeared from the points of the blades.

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

It was a noise that Kakashi had failed to notice from the girl, but Neji had picked up a condensed group of chakra inside of her body and tensed, turning around and saw a spear heading towards the girl in Kakashi's arms, making him scream out for the other in warning. The ticking reached Kakashi's ears and he dropped the girl, trying to leap away as quickly as possible. The spear struck, led by a trip wire and the corpse exploded, sending blood and guts everywhere, including a powerful fire, which grazed Kakashi's arms and Sakura's leg from her standing point. Both the Kunoichi and her fiancé fell over gasping in pain, but Sakura had gotten up immediately, hobbling over to her husband-to-be and dropped down, tearing off his sleeves and began healing his arms, panting at the light pain that was within her leg.

Neji and Naruto had quickly disposed of the ninja, slowly working on digging shallow graves for them, then took a peek at their faces before they dropped them in, checking the bingo book, but found they were not dangerous enough to be within it's confines, however, the corpse had been a high ranked bounty they had been using as bait to lure them. An obvious, disappointing trap. They knew they should have ignored it, but the temptation of helping someone out was far to great to resist. And helped they did. Only for it to go horribly wrong…

They grabbed a swath of the burnt flesh and hair, put it in a test tube, and summoned a hawk, tying it to it's leg and then sent it back to Konoha for autopsy. They needed to find out the cause of death before the explosion, as Neji stated that her veins were still flowing with chakra, but she did not have brain activity, nor did she have a heartbeat. A typical technique used for a decoy, it acted on it's own, it moved, the living dead, in other terms.

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They had to continue. After healing and Kakashi changing into a spare shirt, short sleeved, they moved out once more, the forest thinning out faster and faster until yet another body was posed in their way…depicted a bomb, as it had small wires running around the body this way and that. Slowly, Neji had approached, being the one best to defend himself in a bomb situation, and touched the foot, only for a kunai to come out from a clearing, where the mountains broke the village they were headed to, and Sunagakure. Alarmed, they all moved into a defensive position, and almost faltered as they saw similar dark pants, tucked into bandages and shinobi shoes, a standard issue black. Their eyes trailed up, hoping to catch sight of Sasuke, but the black melded into a purple, split in half by fishnet, showing off creamy skin with a peculiar hole in it that made Kakashi wonder if it was yet another distraction.

Slowly, as their eyes drifted up, Kakashi's widened and he dropped the kunai in surprise, making Sakura look to him, drop down and try to put the weapon back into his grasp, but he stood there, dumbfounded, jaw slacking lightly to leave him with an open mouth, if it weren't for the mask, they were sure a fly would come in and choke him. In front of them, was a girl with deep green hair and electrifying green eyes, both accompanied by wolf-like slits within, but what was most surprising was the outfit, and what was contained around her neck.

A Konohagakure symbol on a hitae-ite, scratched out by a strong hand, Sakura noted, having practiced often enough to receive information about how strong bodies were at the time of their abandonment of their village. The girl stood with her hands on her hips, a kunai held in one, glaring up at the tree, "It's dangerous out here, infidel." She clipped out, sending an emphasizing nod towards the corpse, which began ticking. She held out her arm and a curious creature spiraled out from somewhere in her clothing, racing out the short sleeve of her fishnet, expanding and wrapping around the corpse in time to the explosion. They noticed as she visibly winced and her body convulsed, clutching her side.

Oddly enough, a missing-nin from Konoha _saved_ them? They narrowed their eyes and did not let their guard down until she brought her hand up to her mouth, dropping her kunai and began coughing violently, Sakura noticed this as a real illness, otherwise the girl should have been in movies about the sick, and stepped forward, only for Kakashi to hold her back with a stunned expression glimmering in his one visible eye, "Don't."

Naruto had grown curious and had avoided Kakashi's arm, moving forward and around, closer to the coughing nuke-nin, and frowned, "Are you…okay?"

The girl seemed the cringe a bit more before she moved to the small pouch behind her back, drawing a kunai and backing away with haphazard steps, wiping her mouth which had a bit of blood dribbling down the corner. She seemed afraid, and Shikamaru took a note of it, carefully watching as she rummaged through it, looking from the jinchuuriki to the kunai, and finally to her pouch, pulling out a water bottle and popped the top open, taking a few deep swigs of the hydrating liquid. Her breathing evened almost immediately, though her body still shook as if she were in pain, spitting out a swab of blood onto the ground.

"There isn't any chakra in the spit, don't worry Shikamaru," Neji muttered quietly, so that only he could hear, and then he sent a few signs to the others, they released their fear and watched as Naruto advanced on the girl again, only for Kakashi to move forward, jogging lightly and pushed Naruto back, "stop, she'll keep backing away."

"Who are you?" The blond asked, narrowing his eyes at the green haired girl who was busy wiping her mouth with a cloth, getting it clean of the blood that had appeared. She seemed to be docile, only wishing to protect them. She had to be up to something, otherwise her hitae-ite wouldn't have been slashed, and she would have been within Konohagakure. Of course, Naruto was always one to jump to conclusions, though they have lessened over the years, and they weren't as quick. He took in her appearance and wondered slightly if she had known Ino, as the color of the purple, though slightly more grey in shading, had expressed her personality quite well.

"No one of your concern. I was just saving you," the female muttered, glancing from side to side for a means to escape. Sakura and Shikamaru had taken the sides, and Neji had taken the back, making her tear up and become nervous, fidgeting and shuffling in place, only to glare and rest her hands on her hips, "Why does a person like you care about who I am?"

"Your hitae-ite," Shikamaru answered for her, and she glanced down, letting out a small 'ah' sound. She didn't seem to care about it all that much, as she untied it and tossed it forward, tilting her head to the side.

"Is the problem solved now?" She questioned, reaching into her bag and drew out an unscathed headband, one that was a bit too small compared to that one, so it held like a choker against her neck as she tied it.

_A genin hitae-ite?_ Shikamaru was _never_ one to really question himself, but this proposed a mystery, he had not heard of a child disappearing from the village recently, but he tried to glance at the fabric, and saw the wear and fray around the neck, _So its not new. Then why is she wearing it? There weren't any disappearing children in our class… Then again, we never knew Naruto had the bijuu in him until we were of fair age. They kept that a good secret to. Kakashi seemed so surprised…perhaps- ah. I get it now._ Shikamaru concluded his thoughts and resumed focusing on his surroundings, seeing the girl in the same spot, fiddling with the smaller headband.

"Kakashi, I assume you've seen her in your past," Shikamaru voiced, tightening his hair in it's hold a bit before glancing to Sakura, who seemed to be having a mental feud, "don't worry Sakura, he hasn't encountered a lost lover."

"You're supposed to be dead…," the copy nin groaned, hitting his forehead protect hard with the palm of his hand. He then moved that hand downwards and pressed against his one visible eye, hoping she was an illusion, then glanced up again, "where did you go?"

"Where did I go," she echoed, snorting at his ignorance, "think about it, I was only ten at the time, I had no clue of my heritage until then. What do _you_ think happened?"

"Kidnapped," Sakura voiced, it suddenly clicked in her head, her thoughts were quite along the line of Shikamaru's who seemed to smirk as the girl seemed to be remembering about the past. Kakashi looked at her a moment then down to the hitae-ite at his feet, pondering, "so this is?"

"People gave up on finding me, I found it at a site where there was an Uchiha symbol," she said, still unnamed as Shikamaru went through kidnap files in his mind, trying to remember. He bit his lip and grumbled. Not a lot of people had green hair, he thought that he would remember about her, _so she found the hitae-ite at the death site of Itachi…_ he concurred, nodding lightly. He grumbled a light 'troublesome' before he stretched his hands above his head, groaning in discomfort.

"Then who are you," Naruto barked impatiently, hands clenching at his side. The green haired girl flinched and looked at him with untrusting eyes that clearly said 'figure it out yourself'. He simply seethed and lost his temper, moving out and launched a kunai at her, only for something to escape a…flap in her arm and shield her from harm. She let out an airy scream and collapsed, clutching her arm and panted heavily, a bead or two of sweat heading down the contours of her face.

"She…she was supposed to be the _Sasuke _of the team," Kakashi muttered quietly, staring at her with disbelieving eyes. Sakura jolted and looked at him confused, moving closer to him, still ready to throw a kunai.

"Naruto, restraint," Shikamaru reminded and the hot-headed shinobi nodded, backing off and crossed his arms, tucking his hands away as to make himself relax. Shikamaru turned to Kakashi and saw the look on his face, something clicking with him and he blinked, pondering, "it…it isn't her, is it?"

Kakashi could only nod and take a step forward, leaning down near the coughing girl and drew out a small bit of gauze, patting at her blood stained lips, "yes."

The man made Sakura come over and instruct her on what to do with surprising accuracy, and she soon felt her chakra draining faster than normal. Wiping her hand away, the girl choked out an apology, "do you mean she's the girl who was supposed to replace Sasuke after he left?"

"No her name is Tou," Kakashi grimaced a bit, remembering both his, and Iruka's failure the day she turned ten.

"She was supposed to be on your team. Sasuke was a substitute."

Silence followed.

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_A light author's note: though the first chapter may seem a tad rushed, I am not going to make every chapter this way. I just wanted...to get the idea out, and it seemed to flow well with the action. Reviews if possible. Comments are nice. Flames aren't appreciated. Criticisms or suggestions are encouraged._

_Thanks for reading, FoxllCandy  
_


	3. The Dream Isn't Done

**Painting with Greed**

_Don't own it. Sorry folks. :] No Pairings Yet. Other than KakaSaku._

_I don't own this._

_I don't own that.  
_

_Thoughts are not framed by '…' they are unnecessary. They are simply italicized._

_Time is also italicized for obvious reasons._

"Speech" _**Bijuu Thoughts**_

**Muse:** Great. Hope it stays that way. Derp!

**Listening to: **_Painting Flowers _by _All Time Low_

**The Dream Isn't Done**

I couldn't have believed it, even if Kakashi had just uttered those words from his mouth. My hands twitched and uncurled from their once tight fists, and I looked from him to the girl in front of us. She did appear to be our age, but I wouldn't believe that _she_ was supposed to be _Sasuke_. It was incomprehensible. It made my throat run dry, and all I could let out was a questioning noise, glancing at the rest of the group. Naruto had fallen onto the ground in surprise, his hands between his legs, elbows rested close to his knees. He picked at the dead grass in front of him, frowning in confusion, his eyes flicking up to the green-haired woman in front of us as she was comforted by my fiancé.

I couldn't have it. I balled my fist and stormed over, anger was sure to be rolling off of me in waves, and I reached over, grabbing her by her collar and hauling her up. She merely squeaked and looked at me with glazed eyes, somehow, I could tell she was scared of getting hit, her hair falling into her face a bit as she trembled, too afraid to look away. I sneered, pushing my pink hair away from my face with my free hand and then gave her a light punch to the side, "why did you leave, if you were supposed to be our _partner?_"

I glared as an emphasis to my question, and she opened her mouth, wheezing lightly, and I realized I had tightened my grip so much she couldn't answer. Kakashi, my husband-to-be, stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to pry my fingers away from her shirt, "It wasn't her choice, Sakura, she had an ability that was the last of her clan, just like Sasuke."

I bit my lip and spat in her face lightly, storming over to Naruto's side and sat down, glaring at Kakashi. I wanted to let him know that I was mad. Infuriated that he was sticking up for a nuke-nin. I had learned her lesson…slightly with Sasuke's betrayal, but I still believed that he was influenced and that he could have changed if I just showed him how much I loved him.

I sighed and glared once more, pondering on why I couldn't remember her if she was in class with Sasuke, Naruto, and myself. My brows knitted together and I stared at her, watching her wheeze as Kakashi had Shikamaru come over and start patting at her stomach with the cloth, which it's knitting was absorbing quite a bit of blood.

Something clicked in my brain at that very moment.

**I knew her.**

But I didn't want to admit it. I clenched my fists and then glared at Naruto, pushing him lightly and barked at him to snap out of it to release my anger, and he looked at me, before standing up and wandering over to Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Neji, who were busy tending to the girl that was injured. She was hogging all of the attention, it seemed that she was already attracting disaster, and I had no clue why. If…if only I could remember clearly. Fragments of my memory began to piece together as I stared at her, watching her sniffle and her body shake as she dealt with an unknown source of pain. I felt slight sympathy, but I wasn't giving her my heart.

_

* * *

Six years ago, August Fifteenth, The Academy_

I could remember that the weather had been warm, tickling breezes of autumn finding us slowly, but staying a warm, Indian summer. I sat beneath a tree with Ino, my argumentable friend who thought that she could actually get Sasuke before me. We were chatting idly about how he could possibly get his hair into that peculiar style, and even when it became wet, how it would dry the same way. We giggled as he passed, and he simply made us squeal as he sent a glare our way. He _acknowledged_ us. And that made both of us quite happy, until we started arguing about who exactly he was glaring at.

Naruto had piped up that he wouldn't stare at either of our ugly faces, though he added on that my face was pretty, which made me forget. Ino was still pissed off, glaring at Naruto and stood up, both of us soon seething as he said that Sasuke's hair was all thanks to that his family was related to ducks. In the back of my mind, I giggled, but in the front, I was livid. How _dare_ he insult my Sasuke-kun! I stood up and both Ino and I started chasing Naruto, sneering.

Somehow, my memory switched into the hallways, Naruto screaming for someone to help and that we were going to kill him. He obviously didn't mind the fact that there was a dead end soon, as he appeared intent on bursting through the door to the one teacher that would save him.

"Iruka-sensei! Help me," he exclaimed, clutching his chest as he tried to bring air back into his lungs, even the fastest student got breathless at times. Ino and I had grabbed him by the arms, giving him hits to the head and paused as we noticed Iruka picking someone up and placing them on his back. A girl, smaller than us by a foot was sniffling and sobbing, blood covering her body in patches, her dark green hair held in two long braids, she hung from his back weakly, arms over his shoulders, but not clutching.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, I have to take … to the hospital," the Jounin apologized, bowing out and then broke into a run, heading out of the academy, leaving whispering teachers and children. I peeked out after the girl and crouched down, patting the blood that the female had left on the floor and brought it to my nose, sniffing lightly and then my tongue darted out. I shrieked lightly and fell back, my hands twitching uncontrollably and I slapped my hands over my mouth, beginning to cough and shiver. That taste was something I had wanted to forget, but even now…I could feel the pain, the unknown now known of what the girl was going through.

**Sympathy.

* * *

**

_Presently…_

Sakura stood without a word, brushing off her skirt and wandered over to the girl, frowning and shaking a tiny bit in fear of touching her blood, after all these years of training under the best medic around, she had not been able to tolerate the taste of it. Even her own blood had her quaking, pale. Breathless. The rosette shoved her hair into a hair tie and she moved the others away, "sorry."

She simply hated apologizing, it was the end of that. Naruto watched as she began trying to heal the wounds, feeling her chakra sapped from her like a leech summon was within the girl. She doubted it though, and continued her work, seeing the wounds close at an alarming rate, but the holes weren't closing. Her green eyes narrowed and she put more force into her chakra, trying to regenerate the muscles and flesh that were supposed to be there, and Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, "it won't work."

"Well why not," Naruto barked angrily, glaring at his former sensei. The silver haired man simply glanced down at the girl as she sat up, pulling her jumpsuit's top back up and zipped it slightly so that it wouldn't expose her breasts in a trashy manner, even though the slit was deep, and her fishnet covered the majority of it in finely crossed threads.

"That's her Kekkei Genkai, she's from the Maboroshi clan, they specialize in illusions and genjutsu…but they were wiped out when the fox attacked. It was the first thing it's paws landed on. Her parents were dead, so she lived in the orphanage…an infant at the time I'm guessing. Unless her age is an illusion too," Kakashi muttered and made quick to do 'Kai', but the image did not dispel, leaving the girl who was still shaking there, looking up at him with saddened, serpentine eyes of an electrical variety, "so she isn't an enemy…we should take her back to the village."

Tou's eyes widened and she sneered, rolling out of the way with a light cough and withdrew yet another kunai, perhaps it was the one from earlier, but they would not disregard that she was posing a threat now, "I feel no need to return. I have lived out here for six years, I plan on continuing my life this way unless you could give me a good reason."

Kakashi sighed and rose up, as did Shikamaru, the rest followed soon after and adjusted their outfits, pulling gloves tight, hitae-ite against their foreheads, and retrieving their own weapons. Shikamaru stepped forward first, analyzing her lightly, which made her blush as he remained on a few spots too long. Perhaps he was thinking of something that could be beneficial to the village? She narrowed her eyes and snorted, seeing Sakura notice as well and she rose a fist, "you could be smart and restore your clan. Not with me, of course, women are troublesome…and I already have Temari at home."

The green girl pondered for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest and began thinking, tapping her foot. Silence was brought upon the group as she calculated the option, a concentrated look on the ground, her eyes tracing the patterns of their feet and ankles, "possibly. One reason. Two to go."

Naruto was the next one to pipe up, "you could become a legal ninja again, you never really had a chance…" He looked down at his feet, he himself did not have a chance until he defeated his sensei after a failed attempt of stealing a scroll, but he did learn a valuable lesson from it…so he had gotten the rule of favor and was given the status of Genin, a story we all know well. Tou glared at him lightly and moved her hands to rest on her hips, cocking them to the side, "do you think that matters to me anymore?"

The ex-kunoichi was lying, as Shikamaru saw her foot twitch as she said the words. She couldn't hide that she was itching to reclaim her title as a kunoichi, though she did not look forward to being a female ninja of the village that had failed to ensure her safety. He sighed and furrowed his brows, pressing his index finger and his thumb to the bridge of his nose. This girl was very, very troublesome. He didn't necessarily like her attitude either, she was kind of like Sasuke with how defensive she was about her decisions… _Prideful._ He thought, snorting.

"Any of you guys got any good reasons," Naruto questioned, and the group almost fell over. He had looked so concentrated earlier, they swore he would have said something, well. Smart. Sakura bit her lip, pondering a moment, then wondered if she used to be a fan girl of Sasuke, her eyes sparkling curiously for a moment before she stepped forward, "you'd see your crush again!" She blurted, making the girl with bright green eyes stare at her oddly.

"I've never had a crush," her tone was questioning, almost as if she was confused.

She had everything that they could call for, other than the little mysterious holes all over her body, "your fortune you were taken away from is still instated, along with your portion of the village. You could reclaim that and give pieces out to both your future generations, and for people of the village to rent out. It would make you rich, and a powerful part of your clan," Neji spoke, wishing that it was secretly himself, that was in her position. The chance to raise a clan on your own would be amazing, let alone an honor to do such in Konohagakure. He seemed to have struck a good point, making her eye glimmer happily for a moment. _She likes money…_

"One more," she muttered, moving her hand up to hide her thin lipped smile, she shifted her weight onto her other leg, cocking her hip out just a tad. Naruto was now encouraged to come up with an answer, trying to think of the girl's values, and what she had reacted to so far. _She tends to smile when we mention some material things, like money, and when we mentioned repopulating the clan…she couldn't help but agree almost immediately. Maybe that's why Sasuke was paired with us, her qualities are almost exact to his. I've got it!_

He stepped forward, making the group jolt in surprise, "you could exact your revenge on someone."

The air was now stale, nostrils barely flaring on any of them, their hands shook lightly, wondering if she was going to agree. The majority of the group gave a mental groan of sorts, thinking of having a new Sasuke in Konoha, not including the one that was kept ball and chain within the Uchiha compound with no chakra to his name. A few smirked in satisfaction at the minor thought, mainly Sakura and Naruto, but they also grimaced at the girl, nervous at the glint of concentration in her eye, "there is no need for that, but you've shown _enough_ concern that I will come back willingly."

_Concern? She wanted concern? That's it? That's her third, oh so amazing reason?_ Naruto thought, huffing in irritation, only to hear her let out a light giggle at his reaction. He looked up shyly and grinned, feeling a little humiliated that he had just acted like a child. He wiggled his toes within his standard issue shoes and popped his lips, pondering for a moment, "so…we…still need to get to the village."

The rest of the group jolted out of their stupor surrounding the girl and nodded, grinning sheepishly, shuffling feet, and nodding, "let's go guys."

With Naruto's word, the group took off again, seeing the girl hesitate, look back and shunshin quickly, then appear with a bag of belongings and…was that a kitten? A small feline was cupped in her hands, a dim grey-blue in color, striped with a deeper grey-blue, and held bright cyan eyes. It mewed pitifully and the young girl caught up to them, bringing out a tiny bottle and rubbed the 'nipple' of the bottle against the kitten's mouth, it snatching it greedily and sucking the contents from it's prison.

Shikamaru groaned about 'compassionate women' and 'their troublesome urges', rolling his hazel eyes in her direction momentarily before he directed his way forward, continuing to the village with haste, ignoring the fact that Neji was looking for bombs along the way. The girl named Tou slid over to Neji and muttered that she eliminated all the bombs she feared would blow up her kitten, as the kit had been wandering before she re-located it, and she rubbed under it's chin to wipe up the milk that dribbled down. Neji nodded, but did not relinquish his Byakugan, keeping his senses alert, as the rest of the group did.

To Tou, she didn't see half of the issues that they did, if she eliminated the bombs, they should have been able to relax, especially since she killed a few idiots along the way. Slowly, she reached into her back pocket and drew out a small white book, opening it and looked through the pages, thinking back on the faces and jutsus that the individuals used.

"Is that…a bounty book," Sakura questioned, growing a bit nervous. What if this girl that had agreed to come back was planning on killing them for profit? She was sure that she was within it's context, being the pupil of Tsunade, and a destroyer of an Akatsuki member. The rosette bit her lip hard, glaring at the girl with uneasy emerald eyes.

"Yes. I killed a few people along the way," the forest hued girl replied smoothly, making some of them cringe. Kakashi understood, having been with Ibiki during a few interrogations of a few ex-nin that had become bounty hunters due to the need to survive. It was instinct -even if they had wanted to die- to find food, shelter, and a comfortable life style, even if it was killing others for their own benefit. He sent glances to the rest of the group, a flat look that said that they shouldn't change their opinion, and begrudgingly, they did.

"None of them are within this piece of shit anyways, I'm a year or two behind in collecting a new book," she muttered and tossed it to Shikamaru, who blinked and caught it on reflex. Her glance said 'burn it', but his own asked if he could view it. She snorted and looked to the side, and once more, the group grew anxious. Her personality kept switching from friendly, to scared, to happy…but not at the normal rate. It was almost as if she was… _Bipolar._

Shikamaru began flipping through the book as the girl nursed the cat, his look deepening with each page, and each color coded note on the side of the ones she did kill- and the ones she did not. _Twenty-one, twenty-two, killed by a former accomplice, twenty-three, twenty-four- found beheaded and castrated._

He shuddered violently and looked at her, pointing to the page in the book with a disgusted look and she simply gave him an innocent eyed shrug, shaking her head from side to side lightly. It wasn't her fault, obviously. She simply found him. He came to the Konohagakure section and snorted in amusement, seeing the tiny little drawings she put next to the people, including Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and himself. They were of tiny little people with pitch forks, and weird birds with kitten faces, nibbling on the corners of the pages, and sometimes on the other's face. Somehow, Sakura had been so irritated in this picture, that she had glanced to the side, and one of the creatures drawn was nibbling on her cheek, the exact spot she had been staring at.

Needless to say, the deer herding nin found it amusing. He let out a little chuckle and moved over to Naruto, who in turn broke out into a quiet fit of laughter, it shaking his shoulders, making Sakura come over -though she instantly regretted it- and began laughing at the picture of Kakashi. There were a few legs sticking out from underneath his headband, and from his mask, making it look like he was sprouting people.

They flipped the page and paled, questioning eyes laying on the little girl in the picture. Naruto's jaw dropped, and Neji's brow rose in a quizzical manner. _She's in the book?_

Tou simply licked her lips, staring down at the kitten who had now fallen asleep with a tender glance. Feeling the eyes on her, she looked up and jumped forward, pushing up on Kakashi's shoulder she could peek at the picture, and frowned, narrowing her eyes and grabbed it, "'return if found, reward granted if alive, no reward granted if dead'." She echoed, blinking down at the closed book in her hand.

"I lied. I haven't updated my book since I was eleven," she blandly stated, fidgeting nervously. The others understood the urge to restore a bit of pride in herself, as she had been missing, the search was given up a long, long time ago. When she was thirteen to be exact. Naruto frowned and saw the red scrawl on the cover of the book, and then reached out towards it, only to have her stuff it into her pocket again.

"We're approaching," Tou pointed out, inclining her head to the gates which were closer than ever. However, Shikamaru had not been paying attention, focusing on the book as he thought, and whacked his head against the tree above him, falling down with a loud groan as he clutched his head. How he hated people. He hated everything like that. And he most definitely hated when he did something stupid, because, for one; he wasn't stupid. And two; it made everyone laugh at him, which hurt his own pride.

A rotund woman skittered out from the large wooden gate, held together by dried wood and molded sand ages old, there were still dents within it from the last attack on the village, showing that even though it looked weak, it was quite strong. She smiled and smoothed out her apron, adjusting her pepper and salt flecked hair, and showed off her amazingly white teeth, "welcome! Welcome! Please do come in Shinobi of Konohagakure! We are glad to have you here! We have your accommodations set and…Tou! Why are you back? I thought…"

Tou gave her a look to shut her up and then shrugged at the others, biting out a small, "later." Eye ticking in irritation, Naruto moved forward and bowed, the others following suit.

"Oh-ho-ho! Please don't bow! Please! It's an _honor_ to have you here," the woman exclaimed, moving a strand of hair that fell into her face, "my name is Ren, it's very nice to meet you all! I'm the wife of the Kage here, and I greet everyone that comes here!"

She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a heavily bandaged arm, frowning, the wrinkles of her face deepening lightly, "I'm lucky I survived the attack… I was out in the open.."

Tou wandered forward and yanked her sleeve down, huffing and rolled her eyes, leaning down near the woman and the shinobi had to strain their already sensitive ears to hear what the taller of the two women muttered.

"If I wasn't staying here, you wouldn't have a problem with the bandits."

**End Chapter Two**

_So! What did you think? I know that there are some stupid moments in here, but sometimes an intense moment needs to be ruined. Slowly, we're finding out more and more…and I wanted to involve a cat…because I really do like cats. And the only times you ever see cats is when Sasuke comes home in the rain after the Massacre, and with the mission of the retrieval for the cat. And finally, when Hidan and Kakuzu (I…I love them. XD) fight the Nibi, which is technically a cat._

**_Reviews? Ideas? Pairings you have in mind? Leave a review!_**


	4. Death Will Take Me

**Painting with Greed

* * *

**

_Don't own it. Sorry folks. :] No Pairings Yet. Other than KakaSaku and ShikaTem._

_Thoughts are not framed by '…' they are unnecessary. They are simply italicized._

_Time is also italicized for obvious reasons._

"Speech" _**Bijuu Thoughts**_

**Muse:** Like a squeegee!

**Listening to: **_Dying Breed by Five Finger Death Punch

* * *

_

**Death Will Take Me If I Can't Be Free**

When we entered the gates, they shut quietly, surprising, because of the texture they were. They must have sanded it and oiled to the point that it was as slick as a bar of soap when wet. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the finish of the tall protection, finding that my guess was correct. I felt a satisfied sensation whisk through me for now, but I knew that it would be to their disadvantage if the village was asleep, and intruders came in.

However, I stared as the young woman named Tou wandered over to a very large, shaved log, and lifted it up by the end, hoisting it over her head, and then with one crouch, she pushed it up, it swung over, and clicked into a lock on the other side. It...wouldn't be very pleasant if we had another 'Sakura' on the team. At least, I thought that it wouldn't, we could use more manpower -woman power- if the time came. _Ugh…women are so troublesome._

I couldn't seem to focus, it seemed almost as if something in the village set me off kilter. My hands twitched lightly and I slapped them lightly against my thighs, no need to get irritated with how I couldn't think straight. My ears focused as the older woman chattered in a hushed tone to Tou, biting my lip to try and focus a bit more. She was using a jutsu, obviously, so that we couldn't understand her conversation. I felt like a child with ADHD, not that it was a bad thing.

"…_.here….village…dangerous," _Tou muttered to the woman, my eyes pinning in curiosity. What exactly was she talking about? She would have to inform us if we were to protect this village safely…

"_Know…yes…you…,"_ The elderly woman bickered back, trying to look a bit cheerful. She seemed a bit like she was trying to make Tou relax, but the girl wouldn't release her tight grip on her jumpsuit's leg. How did I not notice that before? I tried to take notes, and made a move to dispel jutsu, but Sakura's hand stopped my own, looking at me with her deep green eyes. Somehow, I knew that she was telling me to wait. Was she starting to show a bit of faith for Tou? Shakily, a sigh passed my lips and Tou glanced back at me quizzically before she began bickering at the woman.

"_No…not staying….I'm not..,"_ the conversation ended with Tou's words, a frown marring the already wrinkled -though plump- face of the woman. Right, her name was Ren. Kakashi, I noticed, was staring at her for quite some time, and my knowledge of facial expressions told me that he was feeling a bit guilty, perhaps he had already performed 'kai' and was listening in?

"…who want's ice cream," Tou asked quietly, cocking her hip to the side as she had done many times before, I was actually starting to think it was her 'thing' instead of the Uchiha's 'hn', or Sakura's 'cha'. Naruto immediately rose his hand as to let her feel less awkward, and the rest of the group followed his action, albeit half-heartedly. Tou simply let her lips form a smile and I couldn't help but let a small smirk follow her actions, maybe she was a bit more influential than I thought.

Tou and Ren talked quietly again, the younger's right hand sticking against her side lightly, clutching her pant leg again, only for me to notice she had her pinky sticking out. _So that's how she activates the speech blurring jutsu._

Oh well, there wasn't much to do about it, it wasn't like I knew her past the one time I met her…

* * *

_Eight years ago, April Twelfth, The Playground_

I suppose it wasn't much of a memory, but I was sure to remember a person with green hair, as both Naruto, with his blond hair, and Sakura, with her pink-tinted hair were also quite unforgettable. I had been sitting with Chouji in the sandbox, practicing our hand skills with crafting things. Our hands flicked up the wet sand quickly, a few teachers watching over us carefully to make sure we didn't injure ourselves. Since Chouji became my friend, I suppose my personality rubbed off on him a bit, his temper though, was still there whenever someone called him fat. I just sighed and shook my head as I formed a few hand signs and made a small symbol form into the sand, sticking a finger into it and rose a block of sand out of the ground.

I could imagine how proud my father was, that his son of ten years was able to form a perfect block, molded with a compact press of chakra.

Smiling proudly, I showed Chouji, only to have my concentration slip and the sand fell onto our feet, making me frown as he collapsed in laughter, "it's not funny!"

My ears caught a tiny giggle, and my head snapped to the corner of the sand-box, even though we were training, we still were looked at as children having fun within a child's toy. Pathetic? Maybe. My eyes locked onto a girl with dark green hair held in short braids at either side, barely passing her shoulders in length, and found myself gazing into the brightest, electric green eyes I had ever seen since I first opened my own.

She had a small smile playing on her lips, but it soon faded as she noticed I was staring and backed away, her shirt shrouding her appearance dramatically. Didn't she have clothing that fit? I wondered about this as she tugged at her sleeve, a shoulder appearing, a pale peach in color. She didn't look healthy…

The green haired girl backed away quickly, stumbling over a five year olds toy truck, and fell on her bottom, making the child squeal in surprise, grasp their truck in their chubby fingers, and dart to their mother as if they had seen a ghost. My hand whisked over as if to stop her, but she scrambled back and out of the area, through a couple bushes, and into the forest.

Chouji tapped me on the shoulder and questioned what it was about, but I shrugged and began trying to do the seal again, and repeat my sand molding action.

**Women, as my dad said, were troublesome. And I now started to believe that.

* * *

**

_Presently…_

Our group, plus the two new women, made their way to the ice cream parlor that Ren was babbling about avidly. She seemed extremely happy, acting as if everything was peaceful. Most of our clients were frustrated with their village, and the way it was running, and we were supposed to solve it. She seemed as happy as the day before she had spotted Tou, then her mood crashed. _Was Tou the problem?_

My mind swirled into question, making me bite my lip again as I thought. My hands twitched as they wanted to assume my usual thinking position, but then Neji gave me a look, wandering over with a calm composure, "relax, there isn't a need to get worked up, she's simply trying to work things out."

The ice cream parlor closed into view and Naruto saw the sign, his eyes sparkling instantly, "wow! Jiraiya-sensei told me about this place! He said they had the most delicious ice cream ever! And that it was good f-"

Sakura quickly slammed a hand over his mouth, making him wince and whine, prying it away roughly, "I was going to say desert! But no! You had to slap your hand over my mouth! Sheesh Sakura-chan, you're really irritable today!"

Sakura could only blush, fidgeting and glaring at him lightly, "shut up, Naruto. I don't need this right now."

My eyes drifted down to the ground after I approached the parlor, taking a seat on one of the comfortable, cushioned seats outside, and a woman darted over, her hair a soft wheat color, and freckles stained her face like she had been through a disaster zone, not that it didn't look back. She could be, what Temari called, 'sun-kissed'. She had a light pink sheen over her lips and her hair was pushed away from her face like a soft, long lion's mane. It was quite a change to the harsh hair of my friends and Tou. Almost…natural. I gave a small smile and sighed, looking down at the menu as soon as she passed them out, spotting something that I knew I would like.

"I'll have the strawberry shortcake 'explosion' please," I drawled, seeing her nod and scribble it down quickly.

"And I'll have ah…um… oh right! Cookie dough," Naruto questioned himself for a moment, and then shook his head vigorously. He did like cookies, we all knew that.

"I'll have the..," Neji paused, his eyes going down to the ingredients again before he nodded in satisfaction, "blue bird."

The whole group, minus the three women who were new laughed lightly, knowing the metaphorical sense of the 'bird' in the Hyuuga clan. I watched as the rest of the people ordered and I stared at Tou for a moment, seeing her muttering to the woman while holding the cat carefully in her arms, almost like an infant, in all reality. The feline seemed to be asleep, its tail unmoving, and ears lowered lazily, no purr was heard, which was quite odd. Didn't they always purr? I received my ice cream in a surprisingly fast manner, taking a bite of the waffle cone and a chunk of the 'cake' with it, groaning lightly in appreciation. Naruto's sensei was right, this was really good ice cream.

The group smiled in agreement as we consumed the ice cream, Naruto was talking adamantly with a young woman, curious to know if they could get a place like this in Konohagakure, and she was always happy to answer, spurring more of a conversation than what would be considered normal. My eyes narrowed and I focused, seeing the curious, calculating glint in Naruto's eyes, and I peered up at the woman he was bringing his conversation towards. _Her gaze keeps drifting towards Tou. Is there something she's wondering like the old woman?_

This was quite troublesome, so I had thought, and stood, stretching as I finished off the cone from my ice cream, "so, we should get to a comfortable resting place."

"Oh yes! Right this way," Ren exclaimed and clasped her hands together happily, now grabbing Naruto and Tou's wrists and yanking them towards a very large building. I had to have noticed by now, that the town was very close knit, and dining was right next to living.

"That isn't good for the population is it, Shikamaru," Sakura muttered, leaning over to me. I couldn't say 'no' because with both knew that if those people across the street got poisoned from the food, they would somehow deliver it to the others of the village, it was a very violent reaction, which was why we put the people who ate out the much on the outer rim of the village, and the people who harvested their own food closer in, because when they harvested their food, it went to the restaurants, and into their own stomachs. So if they died, then we could cancel the production immediately and go to the greenhouse we had installed -since the incident with Sasori's poison- and bring out fresh, healthy food.

Many things had changed in Konoha since the Akatsuki had come and passed, and I had to admit, it was all for the better. The group of ten made everyone's eyes open wide and shine brightly with new ideas, and dare I say, Konoha was already working on something quite exciting, but that was top secret until it was fully developed, so I wouldn't really tell anyone.

We entered the building with careful, calculating eyes, hands held at our kunai holsters, and one in front of our chest as a precaution. Ren had wandered out as happy as ever as soon as Tou started talking with the owner of the inn, and bid them all a good rest. The green haired girl we had just gotten to know had motioned for us to follow, and with a half-hearted glance towards her, we did.

We didn't expect to sleep in such luxury though, but she had led us to multiple rooms, closely knit by doors, which she explained were escape routes instead of going into hallways and falling to your death from such a narrow spaced area. The beds were donned in down-feather white comforters, and silk pillows that were soft on the skin and hair during the night. The floors were a polished mahogany that boasted pride and few scratches from the movers placing furniture in the correct spots, and the light fixtures were all hidden behind tiny murals that were painted onto the lamp shades.

To Sakura, as I noticed, she had a far off look as she stared at a small coffee table lined with photos, this residence wasn't a motel, it was a home…and not anyone's home: Tou's home.

"I've…I remember this place, somehow," Sakura muttered, touching the frame.

* * *

_Eight years ago, August Twenty-Ninth, Somewhere…_

I couldn't remember, but I saw the colorful smudges of balloons floating in the air, and the same, eerily set bedroom as a bunch of laughter rang through the house. Naruto and Sasuke sat next to each other while I was fawning over Sasuke as if he would break. I brushed my pink hair away from my face as soon as I heard that the 'birthday girl' was coming home from her little trip, and we all smiled and cheered, taking our respective hiding places.

It was a surprise that I had erased from my mind: the first time I had seen someone cry.

I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, but there was the rattle of a doorknob, a man with a white and red mask came in, and called for the owner of the home, and a woman with black hair and calm grey eyes moved forward with a frown.

All of us peeked over from our hiding places, including the few parents that were chaperoning, and saw the man mutter something to her that made her hands slap over her mouth and tears spring from her eyes, "no!"

The most simple word I have heard was so stressed that it set my own heart off ease, the woman's voice was hoarse and filled with so much despair that the adults had moved over to her, ignoring the oven and the timer that went off, "_no!_"

She wailed and collapsed into the ANBU's arms, crying heavily, grasping the fabric of his shirt as if it was the last thing keeping her alive. That was the day that Tou was kidnapped, reported killed by the blood at the site she had been stolen at.

Two days later, her mother had died of heartbreak.

_She had lost her husband two months prior to the loss of her daughter. June Twenty-Ninth._

**Tragedy had not ended there.

* * *

**

_Presently…_

Sakura had dragged herself out of reminiscing, looking to Shikamaru with a light shrug and a frown. He seemed to have recalled the exact set up of the whole building, and stared at Tou, seeing the look of remorse in her eyes. They had come to the conclusion that she did not want to be here, or that she was fighting her thoughts.

Tou's mouth parted as if she was trying to form words, her eyes concentrated, murky with the burden racking her mind. She moved over to a chair that resembled the moon and took a seat, feeling it's cradling warmth and sighed, staring at the floor, "I suppose you're curious as to what we were speaking about earlier."

It was blunt, and caught Neji and Kakashi off guard, and they too, took seats across from her, while Sakura took a seat beside her, as for Naruto and Shikamaru, they snagged the couch. Kakashi reclined a bit in the chair, finding that it had been plugged in, having heating pads all around it. He recalled that from the little time they had known her before her disappearance, she had started to like heating pads, as they made her permanent 'wounds' feel better, and to be honest, it made him feel pretty damn good as well.

"Yes…we would like to know, we were not informed of the mission's specifics," Neji spoke clearly, making her flinch a bit and sigh, rubbing her arm before trying to tuck it behind her body to get closer to the warmth. It was the arm she used with the illusion, Kakashi noted and frowned, _It must be excruciating._

"To put it simply, you were supposed to protect me."

"What," Naruto exclaimed, shooting up with sparkling blue eyes full of surprise. He seemed a bit bristled about the matter, as his hands were clenched, and he glared, "then why were you leaving the village?"

"I was trying to lessen their burden. Ever since I had arrived there their attacks have risen," Tou answered, shivering and trying to press her arm against the warm pad behind her, making her wince and groan. Sakura jolted and fought the urge to move over to her, she didn't have much chakra from the last time she tried to heal the female beside her.

"So that's why Ren-san seemed so delighted when she saw us, but once she saw you, her mood spiraled downward," Shikamaru muttered, a concentrated look on his face, "I've never heard of your clan before, but I'm sure that most of them die before they are well into their forties, due to that hyper-reactive Kekkei Genkai you have. For example, if I picked up this coaster, I'd toss it at you, and your mind would trigger a defense from your body, and seize your body again…how big can your illusions get?"

"Colossal," she muttered, glancing up at them with miserable lime colored hues. She sighed and pushed her hair away from her face, leaning forward, "your mission was to find me, recognize me, and drag me back to Konoha 'kicking and screaming'. I didn't want that, so I gathered Heta, and a few belongings, and headed out. I encountered you anyways…but we came to a peaceful agreement. We could leave in the morning, I'll just have to pack up my photos."

"Right," they all muttered, pausing and looking at each other with grim looks. Was this really their mission? Was this why Tsunade hadn't told them?

_I'll lead the pink haired girl and her fiancé to their room first, _she thought and stood carefully, wincing and gritting her teeth as her arm and lower back complained. She needed to get that chakra pool out from there, otherwise it could become solid and hurt her in more ways than one. She grasped Sakura's hand after leaning down, and then moved her head from Kakashi's direction to the hallway, obviously leading them to their rooms. He stood up and the rest of the group followed suit, lining up one by one, though the hallway easily allowed for three people to walk side by side.

Tou's bare feet slid across the ground silently, as did the others who weren't tired, Shikamaru was another case, but that was expected of the lazy nin. With each room they were dropped in, they had viewed previously, except for one in which they passed, ignored due to it's coloring.

_The door was black._

It sent Shikamaru's mind through a reel, wondering why such a depressing color took hold of a door, but then, as she deposited him into his room, she turned, looked both ways sadly, sighed, and retreated into her own room. The one with the dark door, _things just keep getting more interesting as time goes by. It's such a change from the normal, boring life of Konohagakure._

Tou shifted into her room quietly, the bridge of her nose scrunched as she let a sneer and a hiss pass her features. She collapsed on the plush floor, the only room in the house that had pillows littered everywhere. Safety reasons, obviously. She groaned, the pillows were nice and warm on her arm, which felt as if it was being minced slowly, painfully, as was her heart. Her breathing came out in short pants, pupils contracting into slivers, instead of the normal slits, and she squeezed them shut, whimpering and moving onto her back, pressing her palms into her eyes to ease the pressure bursting at her skull.

A length-wise mirror stained with red and rust was on the other side of the door, leaving her to stare at herself, and she moved over to it careful of her weakened state. She looked at the window, then, once she deemed the coast was clear, she stuck out her tongue, heavy black lines staining it with gaps of pink no more than a centimeter in distance raced between them. One of the black lines was open and disappearing, staining her saliva black, and the veins on the inside of her mouth black as well. She shuddered as pain took hold of her again and coughed, accidentally hitting the mirror with the tar-like liquid.

The green-haired adult decided that she didn't need to burden them, so she grabbed the bottle of peroxide, a rag, and poured the liquid over the gash in her tongue, jolting painfully as she bit the rag to hold back the shriek of distaste as it sizzled at the self inflicted wound. Slowly, the sizzling stopped, and she grabbed a cup, spitting into it, and checked her tongue again. Scars littered her tongue everywhere, ranging from their depth, but never the size. Each were microscopic slivers, painful in appearance, and she glared back at her family lineage.

**She hated them.

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**

_So...I think you should review_** - FoxllCandy  
**


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